I have entered the Paris marathon which takes place on April 11th (just over 18 weeks away) and wondering what way to take my training. Will the below schedule maintained over about 12 weeks get me through a marathon? If not, what should I change? If so, is there any single element that you would suggest changing to help get a better result whilst not significantly comprimising the primary goal of base building? How should I taper?
For the past two months I've been working towards a slightly modified version of the basic training from the presentation/article edited by Nobby Hashizume at:
http://www.lydiardfoundation.org/pdfs/al_training_eng.pdf
and building towards the following per week:
Monday - 75 mins easy
Tuesday - 60 mins moderate
Wednesday - 90 mins easy
Thursday - 60 mins moderate/club run
Friday - 105 mins easy
Saturday - 60 mins hard
Sunday - 120 mins easy
easy = pushing a bit so that it requires a small effort to talk
moderate = a bit harder than easy (pace I struggle with the most)
hard = pushing it but always controlled
I have also started to do 20 min jogs twice a week where I focus on my running technique. Weather permitting I add strides and drills to this. I also attend physio once a week (for the past 6 months) where I have painstakingly been rebuilding my stride and working on core weaknesses. I'll do general core work about 4 times a week.
I reckon that I'm about 4 - 6 weeks away from actually achieving the above schedule but would expect to sustain it without too much difficulty once achieved. The club run that I sometimes attend on a Thursday would either be hills or a hard run and would be swapped with the Saturday run if I do go.
My primary goal is to establish a base and run a variety of events over the summer from 800m up to half marathon and get an idea of where I might like to focus. The main reason for entering the marathon is to have a goal to work towards which is important for me psychologically. It doesn't matter an awful lot to me what time I take to run the marathon but I am a competitive animal at heart.
In terms of background I'm 32, have been running on and off for a couple of years having played rugby for about 10 years and done a little bit of running in school where the bug bit me but I couldn't get over shin splints. I wear orthotics and am about 20lbs over a healthy weight and 45lbs over a reasonable running weight. I'd like to say that it's muscle from my rugby days but it's not.